1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproduction-only information storage medium, and more particularly, to an optical information storage medium including a transition area for transitioning between two adjacent areas among the areas forming the storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical information storage media, for example, optical disks, are widely used in optical pickup apparatuses for recording/reproducing information in a non-contact way. Optical disks are classified as compact disks (CDs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs) according to their information storage capacity. Examples of recordable optical disks are 650 MB CD-R, CD-RW, 4.7 GB DVD+RW, and the like. Furthermore, HD-DVDs having a recording capacity of 20 GB or greater are under development.
The compatibility of the above optical information storage media with one another increases user convenience. In consideration of the economical efficiency and the convenience of users, storage media have different standards for different types. Storage media that have no determined standards yet are undergoing standardization. To achieve this standardization, a storage medium must be developed that has a format that can guarantee compatibility and consistency with existing storage media.
A conventional reproduction-only optical disk includes a burst cutting area (BCA), a lead-in area, a user data area, and a lead-out area. The BCA stores information about the serial number of the optical disk, and the lead-in area stores disk-related information. Here, the serial number of the optical disk is recorded as a barcode.
The BCA, the lead-in area, the user data area, and the lead-out area are consecutively arranged with no transition areas between adjacent areas. However, when the BCA, the lead-in area, and the user data area have different pit patterns, consecutive data reproduction may not be properly performed because of the absence of transition areas.